February update

Last November we received word that the grants we worked so hard to apply for in July had been announced, and we'd received a total of $85k from the PUC and Community Challenge Grants.

Following several meetings with the PUC and a great deal of additional evidence which was requested from us to justify our need for the supportive structure, last week the PUC have however, applied additional conditions to the spending of their grant monies. Basically, they cannot fund the supportive structure. This critical element in reducing crime and creating community space on the street is also the most costly element in the entire project - we were lucky to get a quote for "just" $60k for this.

As a result we are currently $15k short of the funds needed to complete the project. We will be looking for additional sources of grant income to fill the budget and welcome your suggestions and help with how to get the $15k from you all.

In the meantime we're grateful for the continued strong support of DPW and SFPT who have continually shown their approval of our plan to the CCG and PUC, and have encouraged us along the way. We're looking forward to meeting with Mohammed Nuru (Deputy Director of DPW) to discuss our plans and fine tune the details.

Once again anyone interested in being part of the process is always welcome to contact us and join in: as some of you know this has been a significant amount of work that has fallen mainly to a very small group. If anyone is interested in getting involved, please send us an email. In particular we need help with fundraising and grant writing, quotes and suppliers, meeting with members of the granting bodies, writing narratives, briefs and project descriptions, laying out and printing materials.